(Closed)Review & Giveaway: Original Beans

I love chocolate! While researching new and unique products for my blog I ran across Original Beans. They have decadent chocolate that is smooth and delicious. Each bar has it’s own unique flavor. I was sent two free samples of the “CRU VIRUNGA” and “ESMERALDA’S MILK”.

“CRU VIRUNGA” is a sensational chocolate. I could taste the fruity flavor of this chocolate and with 70% cacao the texture is smooth and has just the right sweetness. The cacao beans that are used in this chocolate were grown in the Congo. Ingredients: Cacao beans, sugar, and cacao butter.

“ESMERALDA’S MILK” is a dark chocolate with a superb flavor. Grown in Ecuador and arrived “Arriba” beans, this scrumptious chocolate is great for dark chocolate lovers and milk chocolate lovers. The flavor has hints of caramel, fruit and sea salt. Ingredients: Sugar, cacao butter, directly-traded cacao beans, milk, fleur de sel, sunflower lecithin.

Besides the great flavors of these chocolates Original Beans is doing their part in helping the environment. For every chocolate bar purchased from Original Beans local community farmers plant a tree to support rain forest conservation.

To find a local merchant who carries Original Beans chocolate bars visit here.

*Giveaway*One winner will receive their choice of Original Beans Chocolate Bars ($24 Value)

To Enter:Visit Original Beans’ website and then leave me a message about something you learned about Original Beans. Don’t forget to leave me your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.

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Contest will run for 2 weeks. Ends at Midnight on the night of March 23, 2010. Open to All Countries. Winner will be chosen by online random generator. Winner will be notified by e-mail on March 22, 2010 and will have 3 days to reply or another winner will be chosen.

cdziuba@aol.com I learned this: Original Beans origin-designated chocolate helps restore some of the world’s most ecologically threatened regions by plants a tree in the chocolate’s forest of origin. Each bar even contains a lot number designating the location of your tree so you track the ongoing reforestation efforts on the company’s website.

Before Original Beans, Rodney founded and managed the Green Development Foundation in Amsterdam, to develop rural enterprises of cacao and coffee farmers in Latin American and Africa. Rodney also co-founded the Progreso Coffee Fund to assist small holders in obtaining the cash need to export their beans.

Since 1998, Philipp has changed his focus to nature conservation. He has worked for the WWF and at UNDP in New York to help develop businesses for biodiversity conservation. He has acquired hands-on reforestation experience as project developer of the world’s first saltwater forest (in Mexico).tvollowitz at aol dot com

I learned that Prior to the launch of the Progreso Coffee Fund, Rodney created the Progreso Coffee program while living in Lima, Peru. The program had a high impact based on trust and respect among the cooperative members, and was an early pioneer in the Fair Trade movement.

miriam dot nussbaum at gmaili saw that they are involved in conservation and replanting efforts–New cacao trees generate immediate revenue for the farmers, and diverse plantings (teak, for instance) are an investment for future income

For every bar you buy, local community farmers plant a tree that will support the forest; not just rare cacao trees, but a mix of trees necessary for lively biodiversity. Each Original Beans bar contains a lot number, which designates the location of a new tree so that you can track your contribution.

When visiting the Original Beans website, I learned that “For every bar you buy, local community farmers plant a tree that will support the forest; not just rare cacao trees, but a mix of trees necessary for lively biodiversity. Each Original Beans bar contains a lot number, which designates the location of a new tree so that you can track your contribution.”

I learned that each chocolate bar has a code on the wrapper which indicates the area where a new tree is to be planted. Plus the fact that they plant a variety of types of trees to sustain the entire ecosystem of the forest, not just to grow cocoa beans.

I learned that for every bar you buy, local community farmers plant a tree that will support the forest; not just rare cacao trees, but a mix of trees necessary for lively biodiversity. Each Original Beans bar contains a lot number, which designates the location of a new tree so that you can track your contribution.

One thing I learned on the Original Beans website is that Rodney Nikkels, the co-founder of original bean also started a Coffee Progarm. I think this is great because 2 of my favorite food items in the world are chocolate & coffee!

I learned that the finest chocolate is made from the world’s rarest, most flavorful cacao beans. These beans grow in equatorial rainforests (and not, as some people have been led to believe, in Belgium). But the forests that give our planet its greatest biodiversity are disappearing at an alarming rate.

I learned that in 1993, Philipp started out building an independent telecom services company in the Benelux. He co-founded Nabuur.com, a foundation providing Internet support to villages in the developing world.

Lesal N. Ruskey co-founded Original Beans in 2008 with a desire to explore models for more restorative agricultural chains, and a suspicion that chocolate—native crop of the disappearing rainforest—had a unique power to influence hearts and minds. Jennifer, jennem22 at yahoo dot com

For every bar you buy, local community farmers plant a tree that will support the forest; not just rare cacao trees, but a mix of trees necessary for lively biodiversity.what a wonderful way to reinvest in the land

Before Original Beans, Rodney founded and managed the Green Development Foundation in Amsterdam, to develop rural enterprises of cacao and coffee farmers in Latin American and Africa. Rodney also co-founded the Progreso Coffee Fund to assist small holders in obtaining the cash need to export their beans.

I learned that The finest chocolate is made from the world’s rarest, most flavorful cacao beans. These beans grow in equatorial rainforests (and not, as some people have been led to believe, in Belgium). But the forests that give our planet its greatest biodiversity are disappearing at an alarming rate.